put back
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Phrasal Verb:
- To return something to its original or proper place: To move an object to the location from which it was taken or where it is usually kept.
- To delay or postpone an event or schedule: To cause something to happen at a later time than originally planned. (Note: This meaning is less common and often interchangeable with "set back" in this specific sense.)
Examples of Usage
- Phrasal Verb:
- After looking at the map, please put it back in the glove compartment.
- The librarian asked the student to put back the journal on the correct shelf.
- The meeting has been put back until next Friday due to the manager's illness.
Advanced Usage
- "to put back the clock": To return to a past situation or set of conditions; to reverse progress.
- The new regulations threaten to put back the clock on environmental protection by decades.
Variants and Related Words
- Set back (phrasal verb): Can be synonymous with the "delay" meaning of "put back" (e.g., ). It also has the distinct meaning of "to cost a certain amount," as in the reference context.
- Replace (verb): To put something back in its place.
- Return (verb): To give, send, or put something back.
Synonyms
- Return: To bring, send, or put something back to a person or place.
- Replace: To put something back in its correct position.
- Restore: To return something to its original condition or place.
- Postpone (for the delay meaning): To arrange for something to happen at a later time.
Related Phrasal Verbs
- Put away: To put something in the place where it is usually kept, often implying tidying up.
- Please put away your toys when you're finished playing.
- Put off: To postpone or delay something.
- They decided to put off the trip until spring.
Related Idioms
- Put back the clock / Turn back the clock: To return to the past or to earlier conditions.
- We can't put back the clock and undo what has been done.
Verb
- cost a certain amount
- My daughter's wedding set me back $20,000
- put something back where it belongs
- replace the book on the shelf after you have finished reading it
- please put the clean dishes back in the cabinet when you have washed them